Last week our friends at al Kheyr delivered 134 boxes of sutures to the medical center in Tal Rifaat on our behalf. Each box contained 12 ready sutures of varying types for different injuries, both external and internal. This medical centre is the main one for the region and treats patients from the North Aleppo outskirts (Anadan,Azaaz, Tal Rifaat. Kafarnaya, Hayan, Byanoun and Hreytan). The shipment was worth $2500. Thank you to all our donors. Your contributions and continued support are deeply appreciated. Many thanks to the guys at al Kheyr.

Translation: We, al Kheyr organisation, thank Syrian Assistance for the medical sutures sent to the medical centre in Tal Rifaat. We hope for continued cooperation between us. Thank you very much.

Syrian Assistance, in conjunction with Al Fajer, organized the distribution of roughly 750 packets of milk formula to Syrian refugee families in Killis. A slideshow of the aid and some of its beautiful recipients are below. Once again we say thank you to our donors, and the wonderful people at Al Fajer who helped make this possible.

On January 1st 2013, as part of our latest aid trip to Turkey, Syrian Assistance delivered food and clothes to the refugee camp at Atme. The aid comprised of 500 clothes packages containing various articles of clothing for a range of ages, and food, including 1 ton of rice, 1 ton of cracked wheat, 100 litres of olive oil, 50 kilos of tomato paste and other items. This aid was made possible by our donors, and we say a big thank you to all who contributed. We would also like to thank the great people at Al Fajer who helped us so much. The needs at Atme camp are huge, and we hope to continue to raise money for further trips.

As winter closes in, and the conflict in Syria continues, the humanitarian situation for Syrians both outside and inside the country is deteriorating rapidly. Even the large agencies are suffering a financial shortfall faced with the immense task of providing assistance to hundreds of thousands of people. As a small group we can only help to scratch the surface of this impending disaster, but we have the means and contacts to reach some of those who are most in need of help. Our target: the children in the countryside of Idlib and Aleppo, many of whom, having been forced to flee, are desperately short of clothing for the winter. We aim to provide complete clothing packages for two groups: young toddlers, and kids up to the age up of about 13/14. These packages will include tops. trousers, shoes, hats, gloves and underwear. In addition for the youngest we will include baby formula. We expect the cost of each package to be between $25 - $40. Our initial target is $10,000. Please help us and donate what you can. Every dollar helps! We aim to be able to distribute the major share of the clothing in early January. Please help us help the children of Syria! Thank you so much.

12/19/12 Update:

We are approaching $2,000 raised. A massive thank you to those who have donated so far. Every dollar will go to buying clothing for those most in need, especially the very young. We pay all our overheads ourselves, so 100% of your donations go to the children of Syria. We have been asked about donations in kind, and will post details on where they can be sent shortly. Thank you for supporting our campaign.

12/31/12 Update:

Our team is now in Turkey, and is purchasing clothes and food for distribution in the next couple of days. Until this moment we have received around $2700 for our campaign, plus a substantial contribution from a donor who has provided for the Atme refugee camp. As soon as we can we will be posting videos and pictures of the aid and its distribution.

On October 3rd, 5,000 euros worth of medical aid donated to us by the German humanitarian organisation Medeor reached Atme, Syria. The video above shows the medical supplies awaiting distribution in a warehouse in the village. Thanks to the Orient humanitarian organisation the aid was transferred from Turkey and is now being used in a field hospital set up and supported by them. The medicines included painkillers, antiseptic creams, iv solutions, bandages, compresses, penicillin and other items. We want to thank all the many people and organisations who helped in making this possible, in particular Medeor, for their kind donation.

(You will notice our old name on the aid, we tried to fix that, but in the end just getting the aid into Syria proved the more pressing problem.)

Syrian Assistance team carried out a visit to hospitals in Hatay, Turkey. This is an interview with Basmala, an 8 year old Syrian girl injured as a result of government shelling, as she was asleep at home with her 10 year old sister Houda. Houda was killed as a result.

Syrian Assistance team carried out a visit to hospitals in Hatay, Turkey. This is an interview with Mustapha. A Syrian boy injured and traumatized as a result of Syrian government airforce firing a missile at his family home.

Syrian Assistance team carried out a visit to hospitals in Hatay, Turkey. This is an interview with Maram, a 4 year old Syrian girl. Her lower body became paralyzed as a result of government shelling on her house.

The following is a report from our team member, who travelled into Syria with aid for refugees stuck on the outskirts of the village of Atme, just inside the Syrian border. All photos, videos and translations by the Syrian Assistance team. Further videos will be posted in the coming days.

On the third day of our trip to Turkey (19 Sep 2012) we decided to send food aid to the displaced Syrians in Atme (Syria), living out in the open, under trees in very bad conditions, waiting for the Turkish border to open so they could cross. Dr. Martini and Dr. Asaad described to us the bad situation of the people there, and their huge number (10,000), and the urgent need for help. We contacted our team, who gave us approval to send food to the field kitchen there, so that the situation would be improved somewhat. After buying the aid, and then transferring it from shop to Turkish van to Syrian van, we went to Bab al Hawa crossing to enter Syrian territory, and meet the Syrian van in order to deliver by ourselves. My colleague was not allowed to enter because she is not Syrian, nor our guide who had some problems with his passport.

So I crossed the border, tears in my eyes, as it was 3 months since I was last in Syria. On the other side of the crossing there was a Syrian checkpoint which has been controlled by FSA for 2 months since the defeat of Assad forces in the area. Burnt houses, and destruction indicate the severe battles that took place here. Waiting for me was Abu Mohammed, he is the supervisor of the field kitchen in Atme, which serves the people who are living under trees and also provides food for the displaced living in the village. Atme's village population is 5000, but now there are 40,000 plus the 10000 people who living out in the open. I talked with Abu Mohamed and asked him about the distance to Atme village, he said 35 km. The road was almost empty except for several FSA checkpoints, the smell of devastation permeated everywhere; burned crops, civilian cars destroyed, burned, destroyed military vehicles. I closed my eyes for few seconds, grief and sadness filled my heart for what has happened to my country, then i controlled myself, grief wont help, it was work time.

I asked Abu Mohammed to tell me about the difficulties that the FSA are facing and the condition of the people living under trees and in the village in general, we reached village at sunset, we went to the storage that provides the field kitchen and we unloaded the aid, I took a quick look at what they had left, there was only few small bags of beans, detergents, shampoo. I wispered, thank God, our aid came at the right time. I was really happy, I didnt have time to visit the field kitchen as I still had to return to Turkey. I asked Abu Mohammed to take me to people who live under trees. He took a dirt road about 5 km that connects Atme village to the olive vineyards, where there is the tragedy of thousands of families , some lucky to find a shadowed place under the trees, and others nothing, trying to make tents from simple blankets to get protection from the burning sun which can reach 41 degrees in the daytime. Few water tanks, and a lot of people waiting in queue, few toilets for women, very long queues. Mosquitoes and insects filled the place. I could not control myself, I cried. Abu Mohammed cried too.

I walked among these suffering people, and i asked them about their conditions, 10 deaths from snake and scorpion bites have occurred, some cases of tuberculosis and cholera due to the unhealthy conditions, and water contamination. They have asked the world and humanitarian organizations to help them, either by creating camps, or by letting them cross to the Turkey. I have to mention here that the Turkish authorities refused to let in 600 tents brought by the Turkish Red Crescent on the pretext they were not able to protect the area. Children gathered around me and demonstrated despite the humanitarian disaster that surrounded them. They raised the victory sign. indifferent to their condition and the details of their daily life. When I told them that we brought aid for them they were very happy, and thanked us with words, beautifull words mixed with pain.

We got back to the village. It was dark. Abu Mohammed insisted i have coffee with him. We could hear sound of explosions in the distance. I asked where these explosions were. he said these are in Altareb and Dara Aza in Aleppo outskirts, about 40 km away. We went back to the crossing border. I thanked Abu Mohammed on behalf of myself and the group, for the work he does as a fighter, and as a supervisor of the field kitchen, and gave him our best wishes. He thanked me as well, and asked me to send his thanks to our group and wished us luck. I walked sadly because I am l was leaving my country again, but with happiness too because I was able to get some help to my people. I walked toward the Turkish crossing where my colleague and our guide were waiting for me there, What a great day for me. Long live free Syria despite the tyrant.